Kim Zetter reports on an appeal filed by Albert Gonzalez. Gonzalez has asked for his guilty pleas to be overturned, claiming that everything he did (his criminal acts) were at the behest of the Secret Service and that he did not know that he could offer a Public Authority defense. In writing his appeal, Gonzalez…
Category: U.S.
SC: Veterans’ Personal Info Exposed by Aiken V.A. Employee
Brett Buffington reports: Personal information, including social security numbers of over 2500 local veterans, may have been exposed by an employee at the V.A. Center in Aiken. The revelation comes after a month-long investigation by WJBF News Channel 6. Reporter Brett Buffington first asked officials at the Aiken office and their parent, the Norwood V.A….
Medical office assistants charged criminally under HIPAA for their part in ID theft ring
A March 15, 2011 indictment of twelve defendants charged for their parts in an identity theft and bank fraud scheme has been unsealed. Two of the defendants, who worked for HIPAA-covered entities in Florida, and have also been charged with HIPAA violations. According to the indictment, Erica Hall was employed by Dr. Linda Green in Coral…
ME: State Prisoner Sentenced For False Tax Claims and Misuse of Social Security Numbers
Troy D. Fears, who was formerly incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren, was sentenced to 57 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release for filing false tax returns and misusing social security numbers. On February 4, 2011, Fears plead guilty to the charges. According to court records, between…
VT: Barton employee info may have been compromised
Gina Bullard reports: The town of Barton is reporting a security breach that may have exposed personal information. Town officials say they recently discovered spyware on a computer in the town offices affecting the payroll program. They do not know if confidential information, like Social Security numbers, were accessed. Vermont State Police were notified and…
(update) More Student SSNs Were At Risk, TEA Says
Morgan Smith reports that a breach involving the Texas Education Agency was much worse than originally reported. Last month, the TEA reported that an unencrypted disk containing data on almost 25,000 Laredo Independent School District students had gone missing. But when the Texas Tribune obtained records about the breach, they discovered that there were data…